HC to pass order on Friday on CAG audit of discoms

New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) The Delhi High Court will on Friday pronounce its order on pleas filed by three discoms challenging the decision of the government to have their accounts audited by official auditor Comptroller and Audit or General (CAG).

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice R.S. Endlaw will also pass order on a PIL filed by NGO United RWAs Joint Action (URJA) seeking audit of discoms by CAG.

The three discoms – Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd. and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd – had also challenged a January 24, 2014 order of single judge of the high court who had refused to stay the CAGaudit and asked them to fully cooperate with it in the audit process.

The discoms had also moved the court seeking stay of the draft audit report released by CAG recently.

Earlier, the Delhi government had said that CAG has “full right” to carry out a comprehensive audit of private discoms as the issue involves “public interest”.

“Discoms are involved in distribution of power which is a public function and so they come under the fold of CAG audit,” the Delhi government had told the court. The government had sought unhindered access to accounts of discoms for the CAG to carry out a comprehensive audit.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, during his first stint as Delhi chief minister in 2013, had asked the CAG to audit the threeprivate firms, claiming that the discoms were overcharging the consumers.

The discoms, which supply power to consumers in the capital, have argued that they are private companies and hence not in the ambit of a CAGaudit. They alleged that the Delhi government’s order was a “political ploy” and was passed with “malice in law”, without giving the discoms an opportunity to be heard, they said.

The threeprivate firms had come into being in 2002 when the then Delhi government decided to privatise power distribution. Delhi discoms are a 51:49 percent joint venture between the private companies and the Delhi government.